Hey, First newsletter. The site (thelineman.ca) was hobby-only until this spring — the newsletter goes out when there's something worth sending, not on a schedule. Probably every 2–3 weeks once the rhythm settles.
You already have the subnetting cheat sheet from sign-up. If you haven't printed it yet, do — every CCNA exam has a handful of subnetting questions that go faster with the /8 → /32 reference card on the corner of your desk.
THIS WEEK'S SHIP
A two-article + one-lab cluster on OSPF, the link-state IGP that runs almost every enterprise network and gets tested on the CCNA harder than anything else in routing.
→ OSPF Explained: Link-State Routing for the CCNA — the link-state vs distance-vector split, what changes when routers build a full map instead of gossiping summaries, and why this is the protocol on the exam. https://thelineman.ca/articles/article-9-ospf-link-state.html
→ OSPF Adjacency States: Why Yours Is Stuck in EXSTART — Down → Init → 2-Way→ ExStart → Exchange → Loading → Full. Every state, every symptom that hangs you there, every fix. https://thelineman.ca/articles/article-10-ospf-adjacency-states.html
→ Lab 5 — OSPF Single-Area in Packet Tracer. Multilayer switch, one router, four LANs, one area. Free .pkt download. https://thelineman.ca/lab-docs/lab-doc-5-ospf-single-area.html
If you only have 20 minutes this week: read the adjacency states piece and run the lab. You'll never get blindsided by EXSTART again.
WHAT'S NEXT
Static + floating static routes are up next, then EtherChannel, then multi-area OSPF. Standard CCNA progression — most of you are prepping for the same exam I am. If you find a mistake or want a topic covered, just reply. Goes straight to me.
— Dylan
PS — friend studying CCNA? Forward this. Sub link: https://thelineman.ca/start-here.html
---TheLineman.ca · Burlington, ON